<Episode 41>

He heard a slow clapping sound and tried to locate it. He found somebody coming toward him in the shadows still clapping his hands. He could tell from where he was he was wearing a World Inc. assault team uniform. “I got to tell you something buddy,” the figure said. “I was worried when I found out you were having problems. But it looks like you actually gained a step or two since I last saw you.”

He stepped into the light and Jack got a good look at him, but he already recognized the voice, “Mitchell.”

“I bet you thought you’d never see me again.” Mitchell started jogging in place, looking pleased, “I was wondering it myself after you paralyzed me that day.” He stared at Jack for a second, losing some of his mirth, “You did know that right? I mean you had to have heard my back snap when I landed on the edge of that van. Yeah, I thought about that for a long time, I still do actually. But you got to love the Fusion system though right? You barely had any legs at all when we found you. Now look at us, on our feet like nothing happened.”

Jack felt a strong urge to back up but he held his ground, “So you guys arranged this little get together for a reunion or something? You could have just sent a postcard.”

“Oh no,” Mitchell quickly dismissed it. “No the plan was to get one of the other cells. When they raided that Trent guy cell a couple of the prisoners who were willing to talk said your group was pretty close to this other one. That was the one we were targeting tonight. The boys back at World Inc. were certain that the rumors we planted would draw them out. The idea was to try to draw you out by holding you for bait actually.” He chuckled a bit, “Imagine my surprise when you showed up instead. So the new plan was to get you away from the others. That idiot knocked you down here instead. I really had to hoof it to find you two.”

“So I forced you to think on the fly?”, Jack commented. “I’d bet that sprained something.”

He chuckled again, “I almost forgot you had a sense of humor. Well you can’t blame me with the look you gave me last time. That entire day was burned in my brain. I can’t tell you how many times I relived it. Hell I probably dreamed about it while I was in that tube being turned into a thing like you. Well not like you exactly,” he corrected himself. “For one I still have all my original parts,” he sneered. “And two I was bonded to the Mark two system.”

“Let me guess,” Jack cut him off, “You’re just dying to show me the difference between the two.”

Mitchell grinned, “Since you insist.”

Jack quickly got his left arm up to materialize the belt. Swinging his arm to the side he raised his right to his left. Shouting, “Henshin!”, he slammed his right hand on top of the belt. It scanned him and he was back in the Fusion armor.

Mitchell raised his left arm, bent at the elbow and his hand balled up in a fist. A familiar looking belt appeared round his waist, except the faceplate was blue. Glaring at him he clenched his fist tighter as he said, “Transform!” He moved his arm to the side and in one motion he swung his right arm up and over before slamming his right hand on top of the belt. Jack watched as he was covered in a black body suit and red armor formed around. He stared into the blue lenses of Mitchells’ helmet. Based on the look Jack guess he was based on a dragonfly too.

Jack snorted as he said, “Transform? Oh that’s real original.”

Mitchell cracked his neck, “At least my word sounds American. I mean hen…shin, what in the hell does that mean any way?”

“Transform you moron.” Jack ran at him and tried to catch him with a flying knee. He missed as Mitchell sidestepped out of the way. He turned toward him quickly as he landed and ducked a punch he barely had any time to react to. He scored a couple punched to Mitchells’ chest and gut but he quickly backed away before any more made any contact. Jack went after him throwing punches and kicks, but Mitchell was able to block or dodge them easily. Jack almost thought he heard him snicker at one point. He went for a haymaker of a right cross that the other man got under and countered with an uppercut that knocked Jack off his feet.

As he tried to get back up Mitchell stood there and actually dusted his hands off. That got on his nerves fast. “Same old Jack,” he said. “Always thinking pound on them until they give. Always looking for that one big hit.” Disdain entered his voice as he added, “Always relying on luck instead of some skill.”

“Sometimes it better to be lucky than good,” Jack said before kicking his foot out at the other man shin. Mitchell stepped back top avoid it and that gave him enough room to get back up. He went for another punch but Mitchell caught him by the wrist and twisted hard. The pain made him drop to a knee and grab at his shoulder as Mitchell continued to apply the pressure, “Ugh,’ he grunted.

“That’s definitely true in your case ‘buddy’,” Mitchell told him. “From what I hear you took out that blind hit man Logan and Kathy. Granted she had her quirks, hell some of the boys called her a psycho dominatrix, but she was one of Anderson’s top assassins. But if you fought them like you’re fighting me right now I’d say luck played a huge part in it.” Jack rolled foreword with the pressure on his arm. As soon as he landed on his back he kicked Mitchell in the head. Shaking his arm slightly as he got up he turned around and kicked him in the gut. He swung a knee in fast and caught Mitchell flush in the face as it forced him back up. Jack finally connected with a punch to the head. God that felt better than it should have. He went for another one but Mitchell caught his fist with his hand. Jacks’ arm was shaking with the effort but it wasn’t going foreword, in fact Mitchell slowly started to push it back.

“There’s a reason why it’s called the Mark two buddy boy,” Mitchell informed him. “They realized all the mistakes they made with you and corrected them. And not only am I stronger than you I’m pretty sure I’m faster too.” He let go of the fist and punched him. Jack was just able to block the next couple of punches and a kick aimed at his head. Then his head snapped back from a straight right. Then several more strikes he couldn’t see coming rocked him. Finally a right cross spun Jack to the ground.

Through the stars he saw the meter start to flash. Mitchells’ must have started doing the same because he heard the pod on his belt click. Jack watched him out of the corner of his eye. A punch or kick was coming, it was just a question of which one. Mitchell raised his foot up for a stomp. Jack quickly rolled foreword as the foot came down hit hard on the floor. As that part of the floor exploded form the charge he twisted his pod up as he got to his feet. As Mitchell turned to face him Jack put everything he had into the punch and nailed him in the chest. “Gotcha,” he grunted as he fell to a knee and Mitchell stumbled back. He lowered his head not rally wanting to see this. Then he heard the turbines in Mitchell belt start to hit hard. An electrical charge ran down his chest armor and into his belt. Jack looked on stunned, “What the hell?”

Mitchell acted as surprised as he was as he patted himself down, “Heh, I didn’t think that was actually going to work when they told me about it.” Then he looked right at him, “Too bad for you.” He pulled Jack to his feet and started unleashing on him before he could react. Holding him against a metal wall Mitchell told him, “Thanks for the recharge by the way.” He twisted the pod up and threw the punch. Jack got out of his grasp and all he got was wall. But Mitchell grabbed him and pulled him back as soon as the wall exploded. A chunk of wall smashed into his head and he fell to the floor dazed. Jack was vaguely aware of Mitchell standing there and deactivating his system. Reaching into a pocket on his vest he pulled out a small flat oval shape device that he slapped onto Jacks’ chest and stepped back.

“ARGH!”, Jack screamed in pain as it felt like a huge electric charge ran through him. As his body arched from the pain as his armor slowly started to disappear. He laid there breathing heavy and clutching his chest as Mitchell hovered over him.

“That looked like it hurt,” Mitchell commented. “Like a real kick in the nuts. Actually…,” he trailed off as he kicked him low. Jack sat up and held himself as a new pain ran through him. “I’m surprised you still had any,” he said while kicking him back down. Standing over him Mitchell looked thoughtful, “This look familiar doesn’t it? What was it you said the last time I saw you? I remember now, you asked me what the biggest difference between you and me was. You said you didn’t enjoy this. Which kind of implied I did. And you know what?” A sick grin grew and he knelt on top of him, reached into the hood and pulled his head up by the hair, “You’re right.”He started punching him in the face again, again and again.

Jack lost track at how many times he was hit and was about to lose consciousness when he heard Sparky shout out, “Jack!” Mitchell let go and looked to his left, then he heard what sounded like those shock sticks being activated.

“We’ll finish this later buddy boy,” Mitchell said as he got off of him and ran. Jack thought he heard multiple footsteps go after him. Rachel knelt down beside him with a horrified look on her face.

“Oh my God,” was all he heard before he finally passed out.

***

Where is he?”, Dusty said as he jumped out of Bessie looking worried when he arrived at the habitat. He must have pushed that old truck to its limits to get here so fast

“They should be here any second now,” Melissa told him. Beside her Lance was kicking himself with guilt. “Lance you didn’t know this was going to happen,” she tried to comfort him. “Emily didn’t even get a notion until they were in the middle of it.”

“I still sent you guys there,” was his only response.

“Two coming in!”, the guard at the door announced. Just like she feared Arron came in riding Jack’s bike. She ran for the van behind him with Lance and Dusty in tow. The door opened up and she felt a wave of relief to seeing Jack sitting up right. His face was battered and bloody. Rachel and Sparky were at his side trying to clean the blood off of him.

“No offence son,” Dusty spoke up, “but you look like hell.”

“You should see the other guys’ fist,” Jack smiled weakly, “I totally messed it up.” Dusty looked away but she was feeling his relief that he was trying to joke about it. It meant he wasn’t hurt that bad. “Just get me a couple of bottles of aspirins, I’ll be fine.”

“I’ll be the judge of that son,” Dusty told him. “Sparky help me get him out of here.”

Jack actually tried to pull away from them, “I can do it.”

“Son, either you let us help you out of this thing or I’m gonna jab a needle into you and knock ya out,” Dusty threatened him.

“Whatever,” he grunted and they eased him out of the van. “But I’m walking on my own.”

“You’re definitely as stubborn as ever,” Dusty told him as he under one of his arms while Sparky did the same on the other side. “Besides we’re not going that far, just to Bessie and my medical bag.”

“Mitchell just hit me in the head,” Jack protested, “nothing important got hurt.”

“Mitchell,” Melissa repeated, “I know that name but I can’t place it.” She looked to Rachel for some help. That’s when she noticed she was sitting in the opening of the van, looking at his blood on her hands and shaking. How did she miss reading that when she was that close? Melissa immediately sat next to her and put an arm around her shoulders.

“How much more crap is he suppose to take?”, she asked to nobody in particular.

“I wish I knew,” Melissa answered her. Hopefully Emily knew something but she didn’t say that out loud. “We’ve seen Jack bounce back from way worse,” she assured her. “Besides he’s too stubborn to let this stop him for long.”

“We just got him fixed mentally,” she said. “Now he comes back and tried to bust Jack up,” she wiped the tears on her face with the clean part of her hand. Closing her eye to compose herself a bit she started talking, “Mitchell was the one in charge of Anderson assault troops while we were there.” That’s why the name sounded familiar but she kept quiet. “The last time we saw him Jack tossed him on top of one of their vans. The way Jack explained it that messed him up enough for them to bond him to a new version of the Fusion system.” Standing up she reached into a pocket and handed Melissa an oval shaped device. “I found this by Jack. He said Mitchell used it to deactivate the systems.” She glanced over to Lance, “Your cell is good at the tech stuff right?”, there was a slight edge to her voice when she said the word cell. Before either of them could respond she walked past hem and over to where Jack was.

Lance took the device and studied it, “I remember them telling us about a device Anderson had that could stop the armor from forming. Looks like they took it a step further.” Melissa didn’t have to read any of his emotions this time around. She knew that look all too well.

“Just give her time to start thinking straight,” she told him. “Emotions are running a little high right now. Trust me I know better than anybody,” she smiled in hopes he would too.

“Nice try kid,” he said instead. “But I know they’re right in being angry with me right now.” He walked away and left her wondering if she had any chance in fixing this any time soon.

***

Rachel watched silently as Dusty finished up stitching one of the bigger gashed on Jack forehead over his eye. As he taped a bandage over it to join the others he placed previously Dusty commented, “I’ll check on that in a couple of days to see how it’s healing. Hopefully that won’t scar up on you.”

“Like one more going to make that much of a difference,” Jack said. Touching the bandage a bit he joked, “At least with this one I can tell people I tried to be like Evel Kinevel.” Something must have shown on her face because he looked at her and went, “Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” she said immediately. “I’m just happy you’re all right.”

“This boys head is harder than granite,” Dusty grinned. “It’s going to take more than a few hits to crack his thing open.”

“It’s not like he didn’t try.” Again he looked at her and said, “Sorry.”

Lance came up to them. Looking uncomfortable he said, “Jack I wanted to…”

“I don’t think now’s a good time,” Rachel quickly said.

“The boy needs his rest,” Dusty said at the same time.

“Guys, it’s alright,” Jack told them. Slowing standing up he looked at Lance. “There’s no need to apologize. Their plan was to get your guys and use them as bait for me. Chances are this was going to happen anyway, we just cut out the middle man.” Seeing the device in Lances hand he said, “I see Rachel gave you my little memento. You probably want to know how that worked. Melissa probably needs to know too so I’ll tell you both at the same time. Just make sure I don’t fall down on the way there.” Jack went off toward Melissa with Lance right behind looking slightly confused.

Rachel and Dusty watched them leave. Dusty looked at her and went, “Was I the only one expecting that boy to rip into him?”

“You’re not the only one,” she remembered how he was acting when they got the job. “I guess it’s a good thing he can still surprise us at times.” He nodded in response. “Are you going to be staying long?”

“At least ‘till morning,” he answered. “Jack’s got no outward signs of a concussion but I just want to make sure. Besides,” he smiled, “it looks like you could use somebody to talk to right about now.”

Feeling grateful she said, “Thanks Dusty.”

***

Anderson got out of his chair immediately as Mitchell and Perez walked into the office. “Mitchell,” he said as he walked over and took his hand, “if I haven’t said it already it is good to have you back.” Remembering Perez was in the room he added, “Not to knock your performance Mr. Perez.”

“Even I knew I had some big boots to fill when I took the job,” Perez said.

“I just wish I was able to bring Jack in to make this particular celebration complete,” Mitchell said.

“No offence Mitchell,” Perez told him, “but Davidson been proven to be a real pain in the ass since you’ve been laid up.”

“Yes,” Anderson agreed, “Mr. Davidson has proven to be a worthy challenge to the men.”

“I think you mean lucky,” Mitchell commented with a smirk. He was still on this particular kick apparently.

“Well if you two will excuse me I’m going to see if I can train the men to be that ‘lucky’,” Perez said before he left the room.”

“I’ll be down there too in a bit,” Mitchell said before the door closed. “I have to head down to R&D first. I owe Armstrong and his team an apology for doubting them about that little surprise for Jack.”

When they were alone Anderson said, “I’m surprised you haven’t taken back total control of them men yet.”

“I was out of the loop longer than anybody anticipated,” Mitchell explained. “Perez made the unit his own in that time. He’s a good man and I don’t want to step on his toes. Besides you were always telling me the Fusion system was designed to be a solo act when Jack was here.”

“Quite right,” Anderson said as he sat back in his chair. “Did Perez tell you that he and the men discovered we have Drakan in the troops?”

<%2